Secret Trio: Origin
by Deus Rex Machina
Summary: There's so much Secret Trio fan-art but has anyone every wondered exactly what brought them together? Well wonder no more. This is the story of the first adventure of Randy Cunningham, Danny Phantom, and Jake Long as a trio.
1. Strange Encounters

Even though Randy Cunningham had already been the Ninja for a few months, he still wasn't prepared for he what he saw upon entering the gym that day, nor could he have known that he was about to become part of something so much bigger than himself.

"Ghosts!" He'd heard the students yelling from the hallway, if you can believe it. But Randy didn't believe it, so he was completely caught off guard when he opened the doors and saw…

"Ghosts? Actual ghosts? Here?! Oh this is sooo bruce!"

Too caught up in his excitement, Randy failed to notice the ghostly fist flying towards him until it was too late.

"Oww, okay, ghosts are jerks," Randy said as he rebounded off the bleachers, "but two can play that game, NINJA FLIP!"

Jumping off of the basketball goal, Randy ran full speed towards the ghost with his sword drawn.

"NINJA SLICE!" He yelled as he came crashing down with the intent to cut the specter in half. Unfortunately, his attempt was only met with him passing through the ghost's form and slamming into the hard linoleum of the gym floor.

Turning, the ghost roared and came charging towards Randy, ignoring the screams of the other students as it charged the ninja.

"Okay," Randy thought as he relaxed his stance "I can't touch you… but, that means you shouldn't be able to-"

Randy was cut off by an invisible weight slamming into him and pinning him against the wall.

"Got it, you can do whatever you want, noted."

With another roar, the ghost threw the ninja out the gym window, and then phased through the floor, uninterested in the students it had long since determined useless.

Just as Randy though the day couldn't get any worse, he heard a familiar voice ringing in his ear, Heidi.

"W-T-juice. The ninja totally just got his butt kicked by that ghost! Is Morrisville High's protector not up to the job anymore? Let's see if we can get an interview with-"

"Oh I am so not in the mood for this." Randy mumbled as she held the microphone to his face. "SMOKE BOMB!"

~Later~

"Cunningham, what the heck was that? That ghost made you look like a total shoob in there!"

"Gee, Howard, I'm fine, thanks for asking."

"Sorry, but I mean come on, you didn't even touch the guy…err…thing, before it beat the snot of you."

"Hey, when you wanna be the ninja and get face-wrecked by monsters all day then let me know but until then I have bigger problems on my hands than losing a fight."

"Like beating level 206 of Gravepuncher 5?"

"No, like trying to figure out what that ghost-thing wanted. I don't think it wanted to fight, so it may have been looking for something hidden in the school."

"Cunningham, you think too much, that freak probably just wanted to pound you a little then got bored when he saw how much you sucked."

"Again, thanks for that, you're a great friend, Howard."

"Yeah," Howard said as they walked into the cafeteria, "I know."

Once they had reached their table, Randy pulled out the Ninjanomicon.

"Aww no, not that thing! C'mon, Cunningham, it's taco Tuesday. TACO. TUESDAY!"

"Howard, it's my job as the ninja to fight evil…and score some honkin' bruce payback while I'm at it. Besides, I'll be in and out in no time, so save me a taco."

Without giving Howard the chance to respond, Randy opened the nomicon and was whisked away to the world inside.

"Alright nomicon, whadya got on ghosts?"

The doors of the dead can open at a gasp. To defeat death you must befriend it.

"Seriously?" Randy whispered as he was mentally thrown from the nomicon. "That's it? Man, that's wonk."

Just as he was about to slam the book closed in frustration, one of the blank pages began glowing radioactive green.

"Cunningham," Howard yelled as the book began levitating and glowing even brighter, "What the juice did you do this time?"

"I don't know! All I did was ask about ghosts and then it said something about the 'doors of death' and-"

Randy was cut off as a beam of green energy tore through the cafeteria, blinding the student's enough so that no one saw exactly what happened next.

However, when the light stopped, everyone was aware of the boy standing in the middle of the room.

"Dude, that hair…"

"Whoa, those eyes…"

"Seriously? _That_ outfit?"

It was obvious that the kid wasn't just another student, but his semi-transparent body confirmed what Randy had suspected he was.

"Great, more ghosts."

"Uh…hi?" Danny said as he waved to the students gawking at him, "You guys wouldn't happen to have seen a ghost around here have you?"

They all pointed to him.

Danny sighed. "I meant a different ghost."

As if on cue, the other ghost tore through the cafeteria, once again ignoring the students in favor of going through the floor.

"Never mind, I got this one. Oh, and thanks for not screaming." Danny called as he took off through the concrete floor. Unfortunately, the students started as soon as he was gone


	2. Standoff

"What are we gonna do, there's ghosts everywhere, and the ninja is nowhere to be found!"

"He's probably hiding somewhere after that last butt kicking."

The students switched from panicked screaming to hysterical laughter.

Fuming, Randy took off through the double doors of the cafeteria and ran all the way to the school's basement before going ninja. Drawing his sword, Randy searched the apparently empty room for signs of either ghost.

"Alright you invisible jerks, let's see what you've got"

After a few minutes of nothing, Randy began to suspect that both ghosts might have just left the school for good.

"Aw man, I skipped lunch for this…and it was taco Tuesday!"

"Uh, dude, you're talking to yourself."

Randy screamed and slashed his sword in the direction of the voice.

"Woah, who carries a sword in high school?" Danny said as he went intangible to avoid the blade. "And what's up with that get-up?"

"I could ask you the same question! Except, you know, the part about the sword, cause you don't have one, but… your outfit's dumb too! I mean, what's with that deformed 'D' on your chest?"

"Hey, it beat's having a stupid scarf! Besides, it's my logo, you know, _Danny Phantom_._" _ Danny explained while floating a few inches above Randy. "There's a 'P' inside of the 'D.' it's so people know I'm a ghost hunter…well that and it looks cool on the jumpsuit."

"Darn, that is cool," Randy mumbled under his breath, "do I need a logo? No, focus Cunningham, _ghosts_."

"So what are you supposed to be, anyway?"

"You mean you seriously don't know me?"

"If I did I probably wouldn't have a sword pointed at my chest now would I?"

"Fair enough. I'm the Norrisville ninja, protector of the school and honkin' bruce hero if I do say so myself."

"_Honkin' Bruce_?"

"Yeah, y'know, it means totally cool or awesome."

"Pretty sure that's not a thing but whatever, did you see Vlad's shadow stalker around anywhere? I followed it as low as I could but there's something blocking me from going any lower. "

"Uhh, you mean you can't pass through dirt, cause I'm pretty sure that's all that's under here."

"No, there's something else down there…something that Vlad wanted badly enough to risk the infi-map and send his minions all the way here."

"You keep mentioning this Vlad guy so I'm pretty sure he's evil…or, " Randy entered a fighting stance, "you're the evil one and are just trying to throw me off."

"Dude, seriously? If I were evil you'd either be zapped with plasma or frozen solid by now."

"…you can do that?"

Danny energized the tip of his finger and pointed it at Randy's sword. The thin strip of energy fired and reflected onto the concrete below, blasting a thumb sized hole in front of Randy's shoe.

"Oh, that is so the cheese."

"No, you stop that, stop trying to make up slang."

"I didn't make it up, everyone in Norrisville uses it."

As Danny prepared to explain why he needed to get of this town as soon as possible, the entire school violently shook, with evil laughter seemingly coming up from the vents. Soon, the entire floor of the basement became covered in archaic symbols that glowed orchid red.

"FREEEDOOOOOOM!" A voice cried from under the school. "Sweet, glorious, freedom!"

"What the juice did you do?!"

"I didn't do anythi- okay, seriously? Those aren't things people saAAAYYYYY!"

Randy and Danny both fell to the floor in agony as the symbols began glowing brighter, seemingly delighted by their pain.

"We ha-have t-to get out of he-here," Danny yelled as he levitated just high enough to delay the symbols' effects on him, "grab my hand."

Randy reached up, barely able to move through the pain. But, before he could grab hold, Phantom collapsed onto the floor beside him.

"Not good," Randy said as he saw white rings separate over Phantom's body, restoring the color to his body and apparently bringing him back to life, "really, really not good."

Danny though that Randy wouldn't notice his de-morphing, that he wouldn't remember the face of the half-ghost in his human form.

Randy thought that Danny was unconscious, that he wouldn't see the mask come off under the power of the symbols, or see his face underneath it.

And both of them thought they were losing it when they heard a roar overhead and saw a large red creature burst into the stairwell before they passed out.


	3. Trifecta

The silence that Danny and Randy awoke to was startling. So startling in fact that for a moment, they believed themselves to be dead.

"We…we're alive?"

"Well, I'm alive." Randy said as he looked around at the room they were currently in. As far as he could tell, he and Danny were the only two people in the library. "I'm not sure what you are because about ten minutes ago you had snow white hair and glowing green eyes."

"Oh, you saw that, huh?"

"Yeah," Randy said pulling the ninja mask from his pocket in a show of good faith, "but don't worry, I won't say anything if you won't."

"Fair enough, the name's Danny Fenton, I'm the ghost-kid of Amity Park."

"Randy Cunningham, 9th grade ninja of Norrisville."

"Jake Long," a voice said from the shadows, "also known as the guy who just saved both of your butts."

Reacting almost immediately, Randy pulled the ninja mask on and drew his sword as white rings came out of nowhere and surrounded Danny, transforming him into Phantom.

"Woah there fellas," Jake said, stepping out of the shadows, "let's calm down a little bit and talk things through like rational -"

"Ninja throwing stars!"

Jake reacted without thought and burned the stars mid-flight.

"Dude!" Danny screamed as smoke clouded the library. "What the heck was that!?"

"Sorry, I panicked!"

"Not you," Danny said, lowering the ghost shield he'd set up, "I was talking to dragon-breath over there!"

"He threw throwing stars at me!"

"You were spying on us!"

"I was saving your hides from whatever happened in that basement!" Jake yelled back, wiping the soot from his jacket. "You and sleeping spooky over there were passed out in a field of poison magic while the rest of the school evacuated, and it's kind of my job to take on magical problems."

"Oh really, and I suppose you were the one who controlling that dragon I saw down there, too?"

"…Sort of."

The lights flickered out as the school once again rumbled with the roar of evil laughter and the trio ran towards the window. The ground had begun to open and an eerie green light was pouring out as more symbols began to appear around the crevice.

"Okay," Danny said as his ghost sense went off, "one of you start explaining what the heck is going on out there."

"Don't look at me, I'm just as confused as you. All I can say for certain is that it looks like the 800 year who lives under the school may -or may not- have broken free."

Danny gawked.

"What?"

"What happened to there being nothing but dirt under the school, Cunningham? That's a pretty big 'nothing'!"

"Okay, so I may have lied just in case you were still evil." Randy mumbled. "But in all fairness, he was never able to pull off something this big until you and that ghost showed up."

"So this is my fault now?!"

"Will you two shut up and focus!?"

As if on cue, the wind shattered the library windows as the three were knocked down by some unseen force.

"We have to get outside," Danny yelled over the oncoming hurricane, "whatever is causing this we need to shut it down fast and hard, so grab on!"

Not having the time to question him, Randy and Jake both grabbed hold of Danny's shirt as he phased through the rapidly crumbling wall of the school library.

"Y'know apart from the part where we might be destroyed, this day is officially the cheese."

"It…it's the what?"

"Dude, don't ask."

"No, okay but that's not a thing people say."

"Yeah, it is, we say it all the time here."

"I'm gonna need you to not do that then."

"Hey, you two, end of the world, remember that?" Danny said as he began his descent. "We can discuss Randy's horrible slang later."

"Hey!"

As they touched down on the field In front of the chasm, an unearthly wail erupted from the ground. Claws dug into the soil as a massive body pulled its way from below. Rags flowed from the invisible skin of the creature's arms, unseen except for the glowing runes that traveled from the wrists up. Its face was nothing but eyes in the midst of a massive purple flame, seemingly held in place only by the beads around its neck.

"FREEEEEDOOOOOOMMMMMM!" It roared again, rattling the heroes. "FREEEEDDDDDOOOOOMMM!"

Randy recognized the Sorcerer's eyes from the nomicon, but if Danny's ghost sense going off and the fact that Jake was even here were any indication of the fight to come…then all of three of them were in for the fight of their lives.


	4. Revolution

The creature slammed its hand down in front of the trio, roaring in defiance when they jumped back from the assault. Springing to their feet, the boys regrouped in a corner of darkness out of the creature's immediate range. "So, uh, guys," Jake huffed as they huddled in the shadow of the building, "is there a plan here or are we just gonna keep running around in circles from this thing?"

"What _is_ this thing, anyway? The Sorcerer never looked like this before, and I doubt that it's just another random ghost, right?"

Danny nodded. "It looks like some kind of possession, and I'm guessing those symbols on his arm have some seriously bad juju. Am I right, Long?"

"Totally, but it looks like it's drawing up some kind of weird green energy that's fueling it, any ideas about that, scarf-boy?"

Randy chalked up Jake's insult to mega-sorcerer related stress so he let it slide. "Yeah, It's the same stank the Sorcerer uses to turn the students into monsters."

"Seriously dude? This school is way messed up."

"Oh, like no one in your school has every tried to wipe you out."

Danny and Jake both looked at each other. "I… you know what, fair point."

Lost in discussion, the trio forgot that the creature was just around the corner, a fact said creature took advantage of by sending another magical pulse through the ground at his opponents. "See," Randy yelled, "now would be a good time to call that dragon of yours before this…this…uh, what is this thing anyway?"

"As far as I can tell it's some sort of ghost-warlock hybrid."

"Well, how about getting your pet dragon out here before this 'Ghostlock' decides to crus-" Randy was cut off as a line of magic cut through the ground, trapping Danny halfway in a crevice while the Ghostlock laughed.

"Okay," Danny yelled as Jake and Randy lifted him from the ground, "I don't know about you two, but for me, play time's over!" Charging at the behemoth, Danny wasted no time in shouting, "I'm going ghost!"

"Danny, wait!"

In a flash of white light, Danny's hair shocked white as his clothes fused into his signature black and white jumpsuit with his logo prominently displayed. Opening his eyes, which were no longer cool blue but rather a luminescent green, Danny took to the sky, flying straight towards the Ghostlock.

"I'm with him!" Randy said as he pulled the mask over his face and tendrils of fabric surrounded his body, wrapping him in the ninja's traditional warrior garb. Drawing his chain-sickle, he followed Danny's path by swinging from pole to pole using his scarf. "And, if we're doing battle cries now then I guess it's…_ninja o'clock_!"

Roaring, the Ghostlock slammed its hands down, drawing the glowing symbols closer to him and throwing up a ghost shield similar to Danny's. Bouncing off of it, Danny and Randy were both thrown back onto the grown in front of Jake. "I tried to tell you guys, you won't be able to get close so long as he has those symbols on his arms."

"Well I don't see you coming up with a plan on how to stop it."

"Actually, Captain Casper, I was trying to tell you my plan before you and Scarf-man rushed off! I can distract him long enough for you two to take out his arms, but you have to be quick."

"Oh yeah?" Danny said, brushing the dirt off, "And just how do you plan on distracting it? Letting it step on you?"

"Ha, nice one!"

Jake smiled. "Actually, I was thinking more along the lines of this… _dragon up_!" Flames wrapped around his arms and legs, stretching his limbs and replacing his hands and feet with large reptilian claws. Wings burst from his back, stretching ten feet out behind him. His face elongated and his teeth sharpened as his hair hardened into scales that trailed all the way back to his newly developed tail.

"Oh…yeah," Randy said as he gawked at Jake's dragon form, "that might be helpful. So what's the plan here, Mr. Magical Protector?"

"Hit him hard and hit him fast." Jake explained. "I'll take out the ground symbols to distract him while you guys find a way to disrupt the magic. Randy, do you have any ice bombs in that suit?"

"You mean my 'ninja freeze balls'?"

"You…yeah sure, those, let 'em fly when it lowers the shield. Danny can you-"

"Hey, if ice can distract this thing," Danny said as his hands began glowing arctic blue, "then believe me, I'm all over it."

With a roar of agreement, Jake took off and started burning the symbols as they appeared on the ground in front of him.

"Oh man," Randy said, once again swinging from the lamp poles in an attempt to close the distance between the angry Ghostlock and him, "this is gonna be soooo bruce if we live!"

"You know what, Cunningham?" Danny said, taking off into the sky, "It really is."

And so, the trio began their assault.


	5. Mayhem

Danny was impressed by Jake and Randy's resolution in this fight. Even though at first Randy had just seemed like another care-free teenager, when it really mattered he pushed and gave it all he had. Jake, on the other hand, was exactly the same in combat as he was in little bit of conversation they'd shared earlier; carefree but somehow serious at the same time.

He could get use to this whole 'team' deal with these guys.

"Now!" Jake yelled, signaling that the Ghostlock's shields were temporarily down.

"Alright then, let's get frosty!"

Jake stopped and hovered over the burned trails in the ground. "Did you …are you making puns now?"

"Eh," Danny said as he slung out a wave of ecto-ice that covered the Ghostlock's entire left arm, "it's what I do." Charging his ghost beam, Danny fractured the ice at the top of its shoulder, causing the frozen arm to fall off and dissolve in mid-air.

"He's disarmed! That's one down…"

"And one to go!" Randy said as he advanced on the Ghostlock. "Now let me show you how we do things ninja style. Ninja jump. Ninja jump. Ninja _flip_ aaaand… NINJA FREEZE BALLS!"

The ice bombs exploded along the creature's arm, encasing it in a thick layer of frost that stopped the symbols from glowing. "Let's try this again," Randy said, drawing his sword, "eh-hem…PAYBACK NINJA SLICE!"

Randy brought down his sword and managed a clean cut, completely removing the arm from the torso and leaving it to dissolve like the other had. It seemed the loss of its symbols (or arms) was enough to weaken the Ghostlock, as the ground had temporarily stopped glowing with. Taking advantage of this new development, the trio took this time to regroup on the ground.

"Okay, try telling me _that_ wasn't the cheese!" Randy boasted, "We kicked major monster butt just now!"

"Yeah we did, now let's finish off this thing while we still-"

Jake was interrupted by a slimy sensation on his neck. As he looked down, he saw a tendril of swirling green energy wrapped around his throat. _Crap_, he though, _we stalled too long._

"What the juice is happening?"

Jake felt the dark energy seeping into his body, choking him and twisting every cell in his body into a montserous version of itself.

_Think Long, what did Randy call it? _

Quickly remembering, he looked at Randy and mouthed the word _"_stanked_" _just as the tendril tightened its grip on his throat.

"Oh no."

"Oh no? No, no oh no." Danny said as Jake collapsed onto the ground, "Oh no is bad. And you, stop being on the ground! Guys! C'mon we were winning!"

"Da-da-danny, Ran-d-dy…" Jake pleaded as green cracks started spreading throughout his body, lifting flesh from scales in a blaze of corrupt fire, "RUN!"

A wave of green fire pushed back the others as the Ghostlock began pulling Jake closer to its form, binding his legs in the tendrils that had begun pouring out from where its arms used to be. Laughing manically, its body contracted into a pillar of poisonous magic that engulfed Jake, blocking off the other two.

"What are we gonna do?"

"I...I don't know, the nomicon never said anything about this happening!"

"Well don't you have like a 'ninja dragon-saver' or like a 'ninja anti-ghoul bomb' or…anything at this point!"

"No, don't be ridiculous!"

"WHAT ABOUT THIS SITUATION MAKES YOU THINK I'M BEING THE RIDICULOUS ONE!"

Fire rained down in a meteor-like frenzy, taking out the remaining cars in the parking lot. "Get down!" Danny screamed as he grabbed Randy and went intangible as a ball of burning metal crashed down on the spot they standing in. "We have to move, now!"

As they recollected themselves from the fallout, Jake screamed in the vortex of magical torment. Hovering above the ruined school, Danny and Randy watched him as the cracks on his skin and his eyes began oozing black blood.

"It's killing him, we have to do something!"

"I have an idea, but it's pretty risky…for everyone?"

"How risky we talking here?"

"Can you handle possibly jumping through evil fire?"

"…..Yes?"

"Good," Danny explained, "because you're going through that magic wall."

"Pretty sure if it didn't work last time, it won't work this time."

"Last time I was holding back…I can't afford that this time. Jake saved us in the basement so we owe him one. Besides,I think I can make a hole in the Ghostlock's shield, but only for a little while."

Even though Danny was exhausted, he still figured he had enough in him for what needed to be done. "That's where you come in, when you see the shield crack, I need you to get to him as fast as you can and pull him out of there."

"Then what?"

Danny paused. "Then one way or another, this ends."

Randy understood what that meant, that if pulling Jake out of the stank-magic didn't stop it, then it was over for all three of them.

"Ready…"

Danny landed on the crumbling roof of Norrisville High School and steadied himself. If this didn't work, then at least he'd go down fighting.

"Set…"

Randy was ready…he had to be. Taking a crouching start at the edge of the field, he prepared to move like no ninja had before.

"GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!"

Danny's words trailed off into an unearthly wail, shattering what few windows remained and scarring a path towards the shield of magic that was tormenting his friend.


	6. Fortitude

Danny pointed the small cracks appearing in the Ghostlock's magic, targeting the spots that were gradually forming spider web fractures throughout the structure that seemed to weaken its hold on Jake.

"That's my queue," Randy yelled as he charged towards the largest crack in the wall, "NINJA RAGE MODE!"

Accelerating quickly, Randy's suit inverted colors as he engulfed himself in Tengu fire. Seemingly running on air, he drew his sword and rushed into the newly destabilized wall of magic, crashing through the center and knocking Jake away from the Ghostlock's influence.

"Yeah," Randy said, exhausted as he and Jake tumbled onto the grass across the field, "suck… on that!"

Breathing raggedly, Danny flew to where Randy and Jake had landed. Turning to look at the violently swirling mass of newly unchecked energy, he failed to notice a black figure forming in the area Jake had just been in. "This can't be good," he said, de-morphing due to fatigue.

Just as things seemed to be getting worse, the energy began pulling itself back into the fissure it had come from. With a vengeful roar, the Ghostlock returned to its original broken form as it was pulled into the crack, seemingly depleted of the energy it took to maintain its maelstrom form.

"NOOOO! I WON'T GO BACK!" It screamed as it rooted tendrils into the earth around it, trying desperately to stay on the physical plane. "I WON'T!"

"Yeah," Jake said, weakly standing up and wincing at the running lacerations all over his body that ached with his every step, "you will."

In a blaze of dragon-fire, Jake burned the thickest tendrils of energy and watched the Ghostlock flail into the glowing abyss it had crawled up from.

"Wow," Danny said as he and Randy walked up to meet Jake at the edge of the chasm that was rapidly sealing itself, "and they say I'm hotheaded."

After a brief rest and a moment of silence, the guys finally relaxed enough to start talking.

"You know, it might be the fact that we all almost died or the fact that the cops are probably waiting in the woods to shoot at us for destroying a school…"

"Hey, no complaints from me."

"But you know what, you guys aren't that bad. I mean, sure I got possessed by some weird ghost/sorcerer-hybrid and I'm probably gonna sleep for a week, but aside from that, this was a pretty good day."

"Dude, you seriously need to re-evaluate your life if this was a good day for you."

"I don't know man, he didn't die, I got out of math and the school's probably gonna be shut down for a month, so I'm calling it an all around win."

"You two are some seriously wacked out fruit-loops, you know that?"

"Right, because 'I'm a half-ghost ghost-hunter who flew out through a book to fight an evil possessed sorcerer' sounds so much saner."

The trio shared a group laugh as the sound of sirens filled the air. Looking around at the smoking remains of the school, the three of them decided it would be a good idea to leave as soon as possible.

Randy sighed. "What a waste of a perfectly good taco Tuesday."

"You know, I _could_ go for some tacos right now. What about you, Long?"

"Considering I've just been pulled apart like dragon taffy, I could eat anything at this point. Just give me a few seconds to make sure I don't bleed to death."

"There's a Taco Prince a few miles from the here, wanna hit that up?"

Danny stretched out the front of his jumpsuit, pulling out a rolled piece of parchment.

"I have a better idea. Can I see that book you had, Randy?"

"The nomicon? Sure, uh, I guess. But the thing is I'm the only one that can understand it."

"I don't need to understand it."

Danny smiled as he turned to a blank page in the center of the book. He touched his hand to it, revealing the same glowing green square in the middle of an empty page that he'd come from the first time. Reacting to this small piece of the ghost zone in the Ninjanomicon, the Infi-map elongated, wrapping around the three boys as they held on to each other.

"Looks like there's a portal opening up near New York, you guys up for that?"

Jake laughed, "Dude, if I weren't bleeding out and confused, I'd hug you."

"First ghosts, then dragons… now there are portals? Oh that proves it, you guys are so the cheese!"

"You know what Cunningham," Danny said as the ghost portal opened around them "yes…"

"Yes we are."


	7. Epilogue

Vlad Masters had finally tracked down his recon scout to the high school in Norrisville, so of course he had to see just what had caused its failure to report back.

Arriving invisibly, he scoured the ruins of what was once a school for any sign of the Infi-Map that Danny had stolen from him hours ago or the Norisu Tengu Text that he'd initially sent the scout out for.

"Ahh, Daniel," Vlad said as he picked up a scrap of Danny's torn shirt, "you work so hard to defy me and yet it seems you always lead me right back to you. You're almost as bad as that idiot father of yours". Walking over to the most heavily damaged area, he noticed a large black oval imbedded in the ground, invisible to those not paying attention.

"Helllooo, what have we here?"

Reaching down to grab it, Vlad noticed that his arm had returned to its human state as soon as it got too close. "Interesting," he said as he dug out the structure, noting its resemblance to an egg and fully de-morphing from such direct contact, "what _have_ you been up Daniel?"

As if to answer his own question, Vlad pressed his ear against the out shell of the egg, listening for any sign of movement. Suddenly, he heard a shattering cry pouring out from the egg, startling him enough that he accidentally dropped it.

Watching as the egg hit the ground, Vlad noticed a massive fissure appear in its surface, spilling out intense heat and red-violet light.

"Oh, butter biscuits!"

Vlad set up his ghost shield, protecting him from the explosion and watched as a small red and black dragon took flight from where the egg once was. Grabbing the creature by the neck before it flew too high, he observed it breathe green fire in an attempt to defend itself.

"Hmm, and what have we here?"

Locking eyes, the creature transmitted everything it'd seen into Vlad's mind; all the way from his ghost scout being bound to some sort of Sorcerer, to battling the ghost child and his friends, to being pulled from a green-haired child's essence and beginning its life anew.

"Fascinating, so not only does the little badger now have the Infi-map, but he seems to have transitively acquired the Norisu text as well." The little dragon crawled onto Vlad's shoulder, nudging him with its head. "I'd almost be impressed… if I weren't so absolutely livid."

"And as for you, I think I'll call you… Maxwell." The creature seemed to approve of this name, tapping its tail against Vlad in a joyous manner.

"Oh, goody. Now then, Maxwell," Vlad said, shifting from his human form into Plasmius, "what do you say we get home, daddy has some tests to run."

Laughing maniacally as his new pet settled against him, Vlad took off into the sky.

* * *

***To all the readers who've enjoyed reading this, thank you and glad you had fun. Hopefully this has gotten you more interested in the Secret Trio as a group and as individuals, so I encourage you to see out more materials about them, and if you can't find a lot of things you like, write them ...that's what I did. There's more Secret Trio stuff on tumblr, just look for mr-polymorphic ***


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